'This is the new normal for us right now': Abbotsford residents prepare for more flooding Sunday
They’ve barely had time to catch their breath since flooding devastated Abbotsford’s Sumas Prairie. Now, they’re bracing for the potential of more floodwaters.
“Disaster zone. This is the new normal for us right now,” said dairy farmer Karl Meier.
Meier was one of the farmers picking up sandbags Saturday in the hopes of better protecting his property and animals.
He’s also been lining up transportation so that he can evacuate his livestock if he needs to.
Abbotsford’s Darien Paul says residents are now “back in protection mode, where they’re going to protect their homes.”
He’s been organizing volunteers to fill sandbags since flooding began.
“We’ve reached over 200,000 bags,” he said, adding they expected to fill tens of thousands more Saturday.
Some of those sandbags went to the Huntingdon area, which borders Sumas Prairie.
Officials fear this area could see flooding Sunday if the Nooksack River in Washington State again spills its banks. Residents are on evacuation alert, but Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun has warned them to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
“Residents still need to be prepared to leave immediately as we may only receive limited notice due to changing conditions,” he said.
Trying to protect Huntingdon Village are about 180 soldiers, who spent the day building a sandbag wall next to a railway track.
“What we’re doing today is creating a 500-metre-long sandbag wall, roughly one metre high,” said Maj. Varun Vahal, the officer commanding Vanguard Company soldiers.
“There’s a potential water might go a foot above this rail line that I’m standing on right now, which would then go into this community,” he explained. “The idea is to divert this water away from the village.”
He expected they would need about 35,000 sandbags to complete the task.
Volunteers have been working alongside farmers since the flooding began. On Saturday, members of Abbotsford’s rugby club were cleaning out barns and debris from properties.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.